It's often said that real-life spy work is nothing like being James Bond. James Bond is all about shooting things and explosions and women and car chases, which is supposedly not real spy work. But with a new change in law, that last bit may just become reality, because British spies are now allowed to break the speed limit.

Officers of Britain's two awesomely-named spy agencies, MI5 and MI6, will be allowed to drive like absolute maniacs if circumstances warrant it, according to The Independent:

Officers with MI5 and MI6 will soon have the same legal right to go through red lights, over zebra crossings and ignore road markings as the emergency services, if they can prove that national security was at stake.

Secret agents will still be required to drive in a "responsible manner", however, and be subject to the same checks under the revised Road Safety Act as police, ambulance and fire service drivers. They will also be required to take a course in high-speed driving.

Bad ass. We should all expect to see spies flying through the air and bashing through fences and generally everything in the UK will look like this now:

In a totally unrelated story, all British government employees will now being driving Q'd-out Aston Martins.

That last bit is probably not true, but if you told me it was, I'd believe you.